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My worst journeys from hell? Waiting days for a series of cancelled boats in Ziguinchor, southern Senegal, at 100° in the shade — 6/10. A bus trip across the Peruvian desert that lasted 24 hours – 8/10. Taking a train from Birmingham to Edinburgh – 10/10 and not just because it was the last one I did. Or because it cost hundreds of pounds more for the pleasure that the other ones. But because you know it could so easily be improved.

Take a much cheaper coach from Birmingham to Edinburgh and you need a numbered ticket with a designated seat to travel. Just as you do with a plane. So why is it that British train companies get away with crowding as many people as they possibly can onto a train before shutting the doors? This particular journey saw passengers crammed solid down the aisles and in the doorways, with luggage spilled in every direction and children crying: it looked like a train load of refugees after a catastrophe event. If the train company could have got away with putting passengers on the roof, they would have. And this was not for a couple of tube stops or a suburban commute, but a five-hour journey.

Cuba Calling

See some of the films Hugh directed, now on YouTube

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Oscar A very personal account of Oscar Wilde’s life and legacy as the first of the century’s 'rock and roll stars'

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several of the 10 episodes of Dancing in the Street: A Rock and Roll History are available on Youtube, sometimes in their American version as the PBS series 'Rock and Roll': like episode 8 on Punk: Jonathan Richman, Steve Jones on how to play guitar on speed (not at speed), The Clash, John Lydon, Johnny Ramone together with Joey Ramone – very rare – and some amazing footage of Patti Smith we found in a fridge, unseen for 20 years. And Hugh went to Jamaica to have herbal tea with Bunny Wailer. Watch and envy. Not least because he drops the TV into the swimming pool in the BBC titles.

The Skull Beneath the Skin

We know the journalistic story of 9/11. We know all too well what happened on that day. But what we need to be reconnected with is the emotion. What happened to us all just in watching those horrific events unfold – to the way we think about the world, about good, about evil.
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What the story needs is a poet.
.watch the film: under 20 minutes
.see what Bloodaxe Books say: 'This is a remarkable film: do watch it....'